Ras G "Shinelight"

L.A. beatmaker Ras G's latest release, Brotha from Anotha Planet, is aptly titled, given that the 13 tracks on this album—his first for Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder imprint—maintain a vaguely trance-like, otherworldly aura as they transition in and out of one another. It's as though he made the album while trapped inside a thick veil of smoke. Or maybe that's just what happens when one makes instrumental hip-hop beneath the smog-drenched L.A. skyline.